For other uses, see Book (disambiguation).
Books are items used in enchanting and crafting.
Obtaining
Bookshelves
Three books are dropped when a bookshelf is mined without silk touch or destroyed by an explosion.
Crafting
| Ingredients | Crafting recipe |
|---|---|
| Paper + Leather |
Natural generation
| Item | Structure | Container | Quantity | Chance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Java Edition | ||||
| Book | Ancient City | Chest | 3–10 | 35.9% |
| Shipwreck | Map chest | 1–5 | 34.5% | |
| Stronghold | Library chest | 1–3 | 89.2% | |
| Village | Plains house chest | 1 | 12.1% | |
| Desert house chest | 1 | 14.3% | ||
| Bedrock Edition | ||||
| Book | Ancient City | Chest | 3–10 | 35.9% |
| Shipwreck | Map chest | 1–5 | 34.5% | |
| Stronghold | Library chest | 1–3 | 88.3% | |
| Village | Plains house chest | 1 | 12.1% | |
| Desert house chest | 1 | 14.3% | ||
Grindstones
Disenchanting enchanted books at a grindstone yields a normal book.
Usage
Crafting ingredient
| Name | Ingredients | Crafting recipe |
|---|---|---|
| Book and Quill | Book + Ink Sac + Feather |
|
| Bookshelf | Any Planks + Book |
|
| Enchanting Table | Book + Diamond + Obsidian |
Enchanting
Books can be made into enchanted books by enchanting them on enchanting tables.
Trading
Librarian villagers can buy a single book as part of an enchanted book trade.
Apprentice-level Librarian villagers have a 2⁄3 chance to buy 4 books for an emerald in Java Edition, and always offer the trade in Bedrock Edition.
Achievements
| Icon | Achievement | In-game description | Actual requirements (if different) | Gamerscore earned | Trophy type (PS4) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PS4 | Other | |||||
| Enchanter | Construct an Enchantment Table. | Pick up an enchantment table from a crafting table output. | 20G | Bronze | ||
| Librarian | Build some bookshelves to improve your enchantment table. | Pick up a bookshelf from a crafting table output. | 20G | Bronze | ||
Advancements
| Icon | Advancement | In-game description | Parent | Actual requirements (if different) | Resource location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | Enchanter | Enchant an item at an Enchanting Table | Diamonds! | Insert an item in an enchanting table, then apply an enchantment. | story/enchant_item
|
Data values
ID
| Name | Identifier | Translation key |
|---|---|---|
| Book | book | item.minecraft.book |
| Name | Identifier | Numeric ID | Translation key |
|---|---|---|---|
| Book | book | 340 | item.book.name |
Video
History
| alpha | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| v1.0.11 | |||||
| The only use of books is crafting bookshelves, which are used as a purely decorative block. | |||||
| beta | |||||
| 1.8 | Pre-release | Books are now found in the new stronghold library chests. | |||
| Java Edition | |||||
| 1.0.0 | Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3 | Books are now used to craft enchantment tables. | |||
| 1.3.1 | 12w17a | The crafting recipe is now shapeless, so books can now be crafted in the player's 2×2 crafting area, although the recipe now requires leather. Before this version, books were crafted with three paper sheets in a single column. | |||
| A book can now be crafted into a book and quill, which can be used to create written books. | |||||
| 12w21a | Librarian villagers now buy 11–12 books for 1 emerald. | ||||
| 12w22a | Librarian villagers now sell enchanted books for 5–64 emeralds and 1 book. | ||||
| 1.4.6 | 12w49a | Books can now be enchanted into enchanted books, and then combined together in an anvil with a tool to then enchant it. | |||
| 1.8 | 14w02a | Librarian villagers now buy 8–10 books for 1 emerald. | |||
| 1.9 | 15w43a | Average yield of books in stronghold library chests has been substantially increased. | |||
| 1.12 | 17w13a | Added the knowledge book, a green-colored book that grants the player a recipe for crafting. | |||
| The recipe tab on the crafting table GUI uses a red-colored book. | |||||
| 1.13 | 17w47a | Prior to The Flattening, this item's numeral ID was 340. | |||
| 18w11a | Books now generate in shipwreck chests. | ||||
| 1.14 | 18w43a | ||||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
| v0.3.0 | |||||
| Books can be used to craft bookshelves. | |||||
| v0.12.1 | build 1 | The crafting recipe for books now requires leather. Before this version, books were crafted with three paper sheets in a single column. | |||
| Books are now used to craft enchanting tables. | |||||
| Books can now be enchanted into enchanted books, and then combined together in an anvil with a tool to then enchant it. | |||||
| Pocket Edition | |||||
| 1.0.4 | alpha 1.0.4.0 | Librarian villagers now buy 8–10 books for 1 emerald. | |||
| Bedrock Edition | |||||
| 1.2.0 | beta 1.2.0.2 | A book can now be crafted into a book and quill, which can be used to create written books. | |||
| 1.4.0 | beta 1.2.14.2 | Books can now be found inside of the map room chest in shipwrecks. | |||
| 1.10.0 | beta 1.10.0.3 | Books can now be found in plains village chests. | |||
| 1.11.0 | beta 1.11.0.4 | Librarian villagers now buy 4 books for an emerald. | |||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| TU1 | CU1 | 1.0 | Patch 1 | ||
| TU14 | 1.04 | The crafting recipe for books now requires leather. Before this version, books were crafted with three paper sheets in a single column. | |||
| PlayStation 4 Edition | |||||
| 1.90 | |||||
| New Nintendo 3DS Edition | |||||
| 0.1.0 | |||||
Issues
Issues relating to "Book" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
